1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor device fabrication equipment. More specifically, the present invention relates to the use of a multiple connection socket assembly to associate various operational components of the semiconductor device fabrication equipment with various external support facilities. Particularly, the multiple connection socket assembly of the present invention facilitates the quick and simultaneous connection of a variety of external support facilities to, and disconnection of the same from, semiconductor device fabrication equipment, thereby increasing the efficiency with which non-functional semiconductor device fabrication, equipment may be serviced, repaired or replaced with functional equipment.
2. State of the Art
Typically, in semiconductor device fabrication facilities, the amount of time the fabrication equipment is operable and available to fabricate semiconductor devices is critical in determining whether large quantities of semiconductor devices may be fabricated at a relatively low cost. Typically, when the service, repair or replacement of conventional semiconductor device fabrication equipment is required, the various conduits thereof, such as the tubes, hoses, and cables (hereinafter referred to generally as xe2x80x9cconduitsxe2x80x9d), which variously facilitate the communication of electricity, process gases, process chemicals (both liquid and vapor), water, hydraulic fluids, pressurized air, vacuums, ventilation systems and other external facilities to and from the fabrication equipment require individual disconnection therefrom and reconnection thereto. With fabrication equipment such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chambers, the separate disconnection and reconnection of such conduits for a chamber typically result in a lengthy down time of the fabrication equipment, which may be as much as forty-eight to seventy-two hours or more, exclusive of the amount of time required to service, repair, or replace the fabrication equipment. Following many types of repair or servicing of certain semiconductor device fabrication equipment, qualification (i.e., operational calibration) of the fabrication equipment may be required. Thus, it is typically not possible for personnel of a semiconductor device fabrication facility to replace or repair fabrication equipment such as deposition chambers in less than two or three days. Accordingly, when the replacement or repair of fabrication equipment is required, a fabrication facility typically suffers from a two to three day loss of production time, and thus throughput, during the removal of the non-functioning fabrication equipment from a clean room.
Because it is extremely cumbersome and time consuming to connect and disconnect the pieces of fabrication equipment to and from each of their various power lines, vacuum systems, chemical and gas management systems, etc., it is typically easier, more efficient and less costly for semiconductor device fabrication facilities to repair, service and qualify their fabrication equipment in-place in the clean room. However, this approach to service, or repair and requalification on of the fabrication equipment still results in an undesirable loss of production time, as well as jeopardizing the cleanliness of the clean room itself. Further, the in-place service, repair and validation of processing machinery does nothing to alleviate the loss of production time suffered by a fabrication facility when fabrication equipment remains in place, but out of service.
Thus, a method and apparatus are needed to drastically reduce the amount of time required to connect and disconnect semiconductor device fabrication equipment to and from the various external facilities that are required to properly operate the fabrication equipment. An apparatus is also needed which enables the quick removal and replacement of fabrication equipment in need of service, repair, or validation without jeopardizing the clean room environment of the fabrication facility.
The multiple-connection socket assembly of the present invention addresses each of the above-identified needs.
A first embodiment of the multiple connection socket assembly of the present invention, which is also referred to as a xe2x80x9csocket assemblyxe2x80x9d for simplicity, includes a first member to which external conduits that communicate with various external equipment, which are also referred to as xe2x80x9cfacilities,xe2x80x9d are attached, and a second member to which a corresponding plurality of internally extending conduits that communicate power, electrical impulses, liquids, gases, vapors, etc. to or from various components of a piece of semiconductor device fabrication equipment, such as a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber, is attached. The first and second members, which are also referred to as connective structures, of the multiple connection socket interconnect to align and connect corresponding external and internally extending conduits to each other.
Exemplary external conduits that may be attached to the first member include, without limitation, electrical wiring from an external power source, one or more vacuum lines from one or more external vacuum sources, one or more pressurized air lines from an external compressed air source, one or more computer communication bus lines from one or more external computers, chemical transport lines from external process chemical sources, gas transport lines from external process gas sources, input plumbing from an external water source, and exhaust and waste lines that lead to external waste collectors.
Correspondingly, the various internally extending conduits that are attached to the second member of the socket assembly communicate power, electrical impulses, liquid, gas, vapor, etc. to their respective destinations or from their respective sources within the fabrication equipment. The second member of the socket assembly may be fixed onto the body or frame of the fabrication equipment to prevent movement of the various internally extending conduits that are attached to the second member at their points of connection therewith, which movement may prevent damage to or disassociation of the internally extending conduits from the second member.
As noted previously, the first member and, therefore, the various external conduits associated therewith, interconnect with and are disconnectable from a second member of the socket assembly and, thus, the corresponding internally extending conduits attached thereto, by means of corresponding connectors of types known in the art (e.g., various configurations of male and female connectors"", sealed abutment connections, etc.) that are associated with the first and second members. For example, electrical wires that are connected to the first and second members are interconnected by conductive connectors of a known type, such as electrically conductive prongs and receptacles. Similarly, lines that convey fluids, gases and vapors, such as water lines and various chemical lines, from their respective external sources, are interconnected to corresponding internally extending conduits of the fabrication equipment such as a CVD chamber by known fluid-tight sealing connectors that prevent the escape of liquid, vapor or gas from the connections.
As the first and second members are interconnected, the various connector elements of the first member substantially simultaneously align and mate with the corresponding connector elements of the second member. In order to ease the alignment and mating of the corresponding connector elements, the first and second members preferably include cooperative alignment elements. Since the inventive multiple connection socket assembly aligns and interconnects a plurality of conduits during a single interconnection operation of the first and second members, connection and disconnection times are significantly reduced when compared with the amount of time that would otherwise be required to connect or disconnect several separate conduits.
After the first and second members and the various corresponding connector elements are properly connected, the first and second members of the socket are secured to one another in a manner which maintains the connected relationship thereof and thus the connections of the corresponding connector elements associated with each conduit during operation of the fabrication equipment. Stated another way, the first and second members preferably remain interconnected and maintain, through the engaged connector elements, the secure interconnection of the various external and internally extending conduits as various operating pressures, such as the negative pressure that is conveyed through vacuum lines and the positive pressure of various liquids, gases and vapors that are transported through the conduits, are applied to the external and internally extending conduits. Appropriate locking mechanisms may be employed to maintain the first and second members in a secure relationship.
Included within the scope of the present invention is a method for associating semiconductor device fabrication equipment with the external facilities necessary to operate the equipment. Such a method includes associating a socket assembly adapted to provide connective capability with at least two of the following external facilities: a power source, a vacuum source, a computer, a chemical source, a liquid or vapor water source, an external waste collector, a hydraulic fluid source, a source of pressurized air, or any other external facility necessary to operate the fabrication equipment, and associating the multiple connection socket assembly with a piece of semiconductor device fabrication equipment.
A second embodiment of the inventive socket assembly may be used in conjunction with modular semiconductor device fabrication systems, which include a mainframe fabrication station, which is also referred to as a xe2x80x9cbasexe2x80x9d or a xe2x80x9cport,xe2x80x9d and one or more modules, or pieces of semiconductor device fabrication equipment or treatment components operating cooperatively with the mainframe fabrication station. This embodiment of the inventive socket assembly includes first and second members, which are substantially similar to the first and second members of the first embodiment. However, the first member of this embodiment is disposed upon the mainframe fabrication station of a modular fabrication system and the second member is disposed upon a modular chamber or other component of the fabrication system operatively associated with the mainframe fabrication station. The various external conduits associated with a first member may be routed from their corresponding sources or destinations through the mainframe station to the first member at a connection location for a modular chamber or other component which has associated therewith a corresponding second member, and the first and second members of this embodiment are disposed upon their respective elements of the modular fabrication system in such a way that when the modular chamber or component aligns with the mainframe fabrication station, the first member and the second member of the inventive socket assembly and, thus, the various corresponding connector elements associated with each, also align.
Due to the typical association of a common mainframe with a plurality of modules of fabrication equipment in state of the art fabrication facilities, this embodiment of the inventive socket assembly is particularly useful. In conventional systems which include a plurality of modules, if one module requires repair, that module and possibly one or more other modules associated with the same mainframe may have to be shut down as the inoperable module is repaired. Accordingly, the inventive socket assembly is particularly useful because it facilitates the rapid disconnection and replacement of inoperable modules with other modules, replacement modules, which are operable and which have been prequalified, thereby minimizing any loss of throughput in the entire fabrication system.
A third embodiment of the inventive socket assembly includes a first member, which is substantially the same as that described in relation to the first embodiment, and a second member that has been retrofitted with at least some of the various internally extending conduits of the semiconductor device fabrication equipment. The various electrical, liquid, gas, and/or vapor conduits of the semiconductor device fabrication equipment that connect various components of the equipment with external equipment or other external facilities are associated with corresponding connector elements on the second member. Thus, rather than requiring individual interconnection to their respective external equipment or conduits extending therefrom, various conduits of the fabrication equipment may be interconnected to their corresponding external conduits by a single interconnection of the first and second members of the multiple connection socket.
Accordingly, a method of retrofitting a price of semiconductor device fabrication equipment with a multiple connection socket assembly is also within the scope of the present invention. The retrofitting method includes securing a free end of each of a plurality of internally extending conduits associated with a piece of fabrication equipment; attaching the free ends of each of the plurality of internally extending conduits to a connector element of a second member of a multiple connection socket assembly; providing a plurality of connector elements on a first member of the socket assembly that correspond to, align with, and connect to the connector elements of the second member; and attaching free ends of corresponding external conduits that are in communication with external equipment or facilities to their respective connector elements of the first member of the socket.
Because the inventive socket assembly allows the rapid connection and disconnection of semiconductor device fabrication equipment to and from the various external facilities required to operate the equipment, the inventive socket assembly not only enables the quick removal and replacement of fabrication equipment which has become inoperable, it also enables a method which includes using the inventive socket assembly to routinely service and preventively maintain semiconductor device fabrication equipment. In one aspect, this method includes a preventive maintenance program wherein the members of the socket assembly associated with the fabrication equipment are disconnected; the fabrication equipment is removed from the clean room; the various parts and mechanisms of the fabrication equipment are serviced or replaced before the expiration of their predicted life-span; the fabrication equipment is returned to the clean room; and the members of the socket assembly associated with the equipment are reconnected. Such a method of routinely servicing and maintaining the fabrication equipment in accordance with a preventative maintenance program will reduce overall downtime or sub-optimal operation, reduce the product and resource loss associated therewith and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic failure of the fabrication equipment. In addition, by rotating pieces of fabrication equipment through a maintenance cycle, downtime can be minimized by immediately replacing a piece of equipment to be serviced with one which as been serviced and qualified. Further, in the case of modular equipment, modules associated with a mainframe station may be similarly rotated out of and back into service with little loss of operational time in the system.